Hemoptysis

Hemoptysis or haemoptysis (see American and British spelling differences) is the expectoration (coughing up) of blood or of blood-stained sputum from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs (e.g. in tuberculosis or other respiratory infections).

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It is not the same as hematemesis, which refers to vomiting up blood.

Causes

This can be due to bronchitis or pneumonia most commonly, but also to lung neoplasm (in smokers, when hemoptysis is persistent), aspergilloma, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, coccidioidomycosis, pulmonary embolism, or pneumonic plague.

Rarer causes include hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT or Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome), or Goodpasture's syndrome and Wegener's granulomatosis.

In children it is commonly due to a foreign body in the respiratory tract.

It can result from over-anticoagulation from treatment by drugs such as warfarin.

Cardiac causes like congestive heart failure and mitral stenosis should be ruled out.

The origin of blood can be known by observing its color. Bright red, foamy blood comes from the respiratory tract while dark red, coffee-colored blood comes from the gastrointestinal tract.

Diagnostic workup

• Haemoptysis Virtual Cancer Centre